Husband Maligning Wife At Her Workplace, Questioning Chastity Before Colleagues Amounts To Mental Cruelty: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has held that a husband maligning his wife at her workplace, questioning her chastity and abusing her before colleagues, amounts to mental cruelty warranting dissolution of marriage.A Division Bench of Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Supratim Bhattacharya observed that public humiliation, character assassination, and professional defamation inflicted by a spouse strike at the core of an individual's dignity and mental peace, and cannot be brushed aside as trivial marital discord.The Court was hearing an appeal filed by a woman doctor challenging a Family Court judgment which had dismissed her suit for divorce under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The wife had alleged that her husband repeatedly visited her hospital in Kurseong, abused her in front of colleagues, spread rumours about her chastity, and threatened her with dire consequences.Setting aside the Family Court's findings, the High Court strongly criticised the approach of the Trial Judge, who had disbelieved the wife's version on the ground that she could not produce supporting witnesses.The Bench noted that the wife had, in fact, sought permission to examine her colleagues through video conferencing. However, the Family Court rejected the request in a one-line order, citing lack of infrastructure.“The learned Trial Judge having himself refused to permit oral evidence through video conferencing on the flimsy ground of lack of infrastructure, could not have drawn adverse inference against the appellant-wife on the self-same ground of not having adduced evidence,” the Court held.The High Court said that such an approach resulted in grave prejudice to the wife and amounted to denial of a fair opportunity to prove cruelty.The Court also relied on the doctrine of non-traverse, noting that the husband's written statement contained only bald and evasive denials of serious allegations.The wife had specifically pleaded that the husband abused her in her workplace, spread rumours about her chastity, and terrorised her. However, the husband merely denied these allegations without giving any meaningful explanation.“Thus, the denial of the specific and categorical allegations… are, at the most, evasive. Hence, the allegations are established in any event by the doctrine of non-traverse,” the Bench observed.The Court emphasised that humiliating a spouse in a professional setting has a far deeper psychological impact.“The allegations of the wife regarding the consistent attempts of the husband to malign her in her workplace… constitute mental cruelty of the gravest form,” the Court said, adding that professional dignity forms an intrinsic part of a person's identity.After examining the evidence, the Court concluded that the wife had successfully proved both cruelty and desertion.Allowing the appeal, the Bench set aside the Family Court's judgment and granted a decree of divorce.The Court also granted visitation rights to the husband with respect to the minor son, laying down a detailed schedule to safeguard the child's welfare.Case Title: Dr. Soma Mandal Debnath v. Sri Tanmoy DebnathCase No: F.A. No. 190 of 2022Click here to read order

Husband Maligning Wife At Her Workplace, Questioning Chastity Before Colleagues Amounts To Mental Cruelty: Calcutta High Court

Srinjoy Das

Tags